Rag-joining knife



(No Model.)

r J. A. FULWILER.

RAG JOINING KNIFE. V No. 288,991. PatentedNov. 27, 1883. I

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JAMES FULW'ILER, OF LEXINGTON, ILLINOIS.

RAG-JOINING KNIFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,991, dated November 27, 1883, Application filed March 30, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs ALVIN FUL- wILEn, of Lexington, in the county of Mc- Lean and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Rag-Joining Knife, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved rag-j oining knife by which the ends of rags used in making carpets, matting, 820., may be looped and joined with greater facility than by sewing them together.

The invention consists in a knife the blade of which is sharpened at one edge, and provided with an inclined notch passing toward the point of the knife from the blunt back, for engaging the rags for drawing one through the other in forming the loop or joint, the inclined notch or slot being specially arranged with relation to the sharp point and edge of the knife to join the rags firmly and smoothly and leave but short ends, thus avoiding waste of the rags and giving a much smoother finish to the face of the carpets woven from rags than is possible when long ends are left loose at the joinings of the rags, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate cor responding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of myimproved rag-joining knife; Fig. 2-, a back edge elevation thereof; Fig. 3, an elevation of the sharp edge of the knife, and Fig. a a crosssection thereof on line as m, Fig. 1.

The drawings represent my improved knife asformed of a bar, a, of steel, turned or looped at one end, as at b, to form a handle, and for a convenient means of hanging the knife to a pin or nail when out of use.

The blade 0 of the knife is forged or shaped for most of its length to the cross-sectional form of Fig. 4, with a blunt back, (I, and a sharp edge, e, which edge 6 extends to the extreme endf of the spear-shaped head 9, the back of which, at 71, is blunt, also as shown in Fig. 2, while the spear-head g is tapered gradually at both sides to a point.

I cut an inclined slot or groove, i, in the head Ii, at the back,and about parallel with the back edge, 7:, of the head, thus forming a hook,

I 71 which projects beyond the back d of the in looping them together, the direction of the slot 2' being more nearly in line with the length of the knife-blade than is usual with knives of this class, thus insuring a better hold of the rags in drawing them through the incisions made by the spear-head and sharp edge of the knife.

In using the knife for joining rags, they are laid one over the other with the ends even, and the spear-head g is passed through both partly and its joint end wholly through the incision of the inner rag by catching the outer rag at one side of the incision made therein in the slot 2', and drawing it by the hook is, after which the end of the outer rag is carried over rag again caught in the knife head slot and drawn by the hook through the incision made in the rag next its end, and carrying the end of the inner rag with it, when the hook 75 may be disengaged entirely and the outer rag fully drawn through the incision next its end, thus forming the loop, which may be drawn tightly by pulling upon both rags at each side of the loop, forming the joint quickly, smoothly, and perfectly, leaving very short ends of the rags outside the joint and avoiding waste.

This improved knife may also be used for sewing heavy goods-such as bags and belt ing-by piercing the same by the spear-head and drawing the thread or cord back and forth through the goods by the hook; and the device will be useful, also, for securing tags to goods in a substantially like manner, and it may be used also asa button-hole cutter, and for drawing corks by the hook ,and for other useful purposes.

It will be understood that the loop I) may be dispensed with and the knife-blade set in a wood or other suitable handle, as maybe most desirable or convenient.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A. rag-j oining knife having blade c,sharpened at one edge, e, and with a spear-head, g, having a slot, 17, about parallel with the blunt back it of the head, substantially as shown and described.

rags near the ends, and the outer rag drawn body of the knife, to more easily catch the rags 70 the inner one by the hook-head. and said outer 2. A rag-joining knife having blade 0, hav- I which projects beyond the back of the blade, 10 ing one sharp edge, e, a spear-head, g, with said blade being sharp at edge e and blunt at slot '5, about parallel with the blunt back edge, edges (2 h, and the heady being tapered to a 71, of the head, and forming a hook, 70, which point at the sides, substantially as shown and 5 extends at its end beyond the blunt back d of described.

the body 0 of the knife, substantially as shown 7 J AMES ALVIN FULWILER. and described. Witnesses:

3. A rag-joining knife having blade 0, with WVILLIAM H. SHEPHERD,

spear-head g, and slot 1', forming a hook, k, SAM EL A. STARK. 

